This is the Guardian. It's not just humans that are suffering the harms of the climate crisis.

An alarming new report just released by the UN that says roughly 1 million species are on the verge of extinction more than any other time in recorded history.

The Earth's biodiversity is in distress, and this is a system already under huge pressure facing threats from every angle,

deforestation, pollution, pesticides.

Plastics take millennia to break down and decompose.

They pose a particular threat to the oceans and marine life, yet production of plastics is set to

increase.

We're destroying the natural world

and the future of humanity is hanging in the balance.

But there's a chance to make a difference if action is taken immediately.

How do we do it?

Right now in conference halls in Switzerland,

countries from around the world are scrambling to pull together targets

for the end of this decade that could help us save nature.

To be signed off at a major conference in China later this year.

The city of Kunming is hosting the United Nations COP15 meeting.

That's where world leaders will

negotiators be able to come up with an agreement in time

to come up with an agreement in time? And is it going to be enough?

From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley and this is Science Weekly.

Patrick Greenfield, as a biodiversity and environment reporter for the Guardian, you're currently in Geneva.

So what are you doing there?

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